Let's Do Some Questions - Chapter 78

“Why can everything change, but only this one thing can’t?”

Song Man asked her, raising her voice, her chest heaving.

“Manman,” Song Qinglan took a deep breath to calm herself down, “I didn’t ask you here to argue with me. Did I do something wrong that made you angry?”

Song Qinglan didn’t engage in pointless arguments with Song Man. She found it very strange.

Her kindness towards Song Man was, on the surface, impeccable, so why was Song Man acting like this?

This couldn’t be explained by teenage rebellion anymore. Song Qinglan genuinely heard the meaning of “I don’t want to like you anymore” in Song Man’s words and fell into an unknown panic.

This wasn’t right. Song Qinglan suppressed her emotions, furrowed her brow slightly, and watched Song Man calmly.

“It’s always like this. Fine, fine, fine. You’re good, you’re the best in the world, you’re the best, most impeccable sister in the world. I’m just the useless, rebellious, trashy younger sister. Happy now?”

Song Man didn’t want to say this, but she couldn’t control herself. Her tone was sarcastic, revealing fragments of the truth.

“Did you hear something others said? Don’t pay attention to those rumors. You know I love you, Mom and Dad love you. We will always dote on you, and that’s enough.”

Song Qinglan thought it was just someone saying unpleasant things that Song Man overheard, hurting her teenage pride and causing her to lose her temper. The panic in her heart subsided a little, and she spoke to Song Man gently.

Song Man scoffed and didn’t reply.

She hadn’t gone to listen to all that nonsense. If she deliberately sought out things to make herself unhappy, she would have died of anger long ago.

Their family was considered wealthy and attracted a lot of attention.

In the upper-class circle, who didn’t know that the Song family’s eldest daughter was an elite, how incredibly capable she was, while the second daughter was spoiled, extravagant, and accomplished nothing?

Fortunately, girls like this were criticized less than boys like this, but because of the unique inheritance method, many people mocked her dad for being the “official” one now, while she had no ability and would only get Song Qinglan’s leftovers in the end.

Besides that, the Song family was targeted by others, as their family was run by women. Many people wanted to climb the social ladder through this. Moreover, her mom wasn’t just a rich woman; she also took good care of herself, and there were plenty of young men trying to get close to her. Her dad always stayed by her mom’s side because of this too.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her mom or thought she would be unfaithful, but there were too many temptations and schemes outside, and it would be bad if she accidentally fell into one.

So, Song Man was raised by Song Qinglan from a young age. If Song Man didn’t have such deep feelings for Song Qinglan, if their relationship was just ordinary, indifferent, or even hostile half-sisters (same mother, different father), Song Man wouldn’t be so conflicted.

“Manman, if you have any problems, you can tell your sister directly. Don’t get yourself worked up. From childhood until now, I’ve given you whatever you wanted. You grew up with me; you know your place in my heart is more important than anyone else’s.”

Song Qinglan’s words were not false. For her, Song Man, her sister, was much more important than Song Zici, her mother.

“Is that so?”

If she was so important in your heart, why bother being kind to her with ulterior motives?

Song Man couldn’t understand before, but now she could.

She had seen plenty of things in wealthy families. Zhuang Yushi was an example, though Zhuang Yushi was a little different from her. Zhuang Yushi’s mom was still alive, but her dad openly brought his mistress and illegitimate son into the house.

When Zhuang Yushi mentioned her half-brother (same father, different mother), she gritted her teeth and wished she could strangle him. As for Song Man and Song Qinglan’s relationship, she always found it magical.

She was amazed that Song Qinglan didn’t hate her, and amazed that she didn’t dislike Song Qinglan either.

Song Man just smiled back then. How could Song Qinglan not hate her?

Actually, putting herself in Song Qinglan’s shoes, if Song Man were Song Qinglan, she would probably dislike herself very much. That dislike had nothing to do with her own personality, but rather with that identity being there.

Some people in the world are born to be a kind of harm to another person.

This was also why Song Man had kept it a secret and hadn’t said anything, not just for her dad’s feelings and the stability of this family, but also for Song Qinglan.

Perhaps half-siblings (same mother, different father) were inherently different from half-siblings (same father, different mother). That connection from bl00d seemed even closer, not to mention they lived together, and her growth was witnessed by this person called “sister.”

“Yes.”

Song Qinglan nodded.

Song Man smiled again, shook her head, and turned to leave.

Perhaps only when she was obedient would she be the most important person in Song Qinglan’s heart forever. No, not forever. Eventually, the person Song Qinglan liked would appear.

When should she reveal everything? Song Man only had a final deadline in mind.

The Gaokao.

Song Man wouldn’t hide her abilities in the Gaokao. Although a score couldn’t determine a person’s fate, much less hers, it could determine the kind of people around her and whether she could openly enter the place she wanted to enter.

She wanted to be honored alongside Chu Fengqiu. By then, Song Qinglan’s thoughts wouldn’t be something she needed to worry about.

Song Man was setting a countdown for herself, and also for Song Qinglan, but Song Qinglan was completely unaware.

She thought she had the upper hand and was controlling the whole situation, but in reality, she was blinded by a single leaf and couldn’t see the mountain.

“Manman.”

“What now?”

“Where are you eating tonight? Didn’t you say you owed Jiang Shan a favor and needed to repay him?”

“Then I’ll book a place and send you both the details later.”

Song Man almost forgot about this. She said this with her back to Song Qinglan, then left Song Qinglan’s office.

“Okay.”

Song Qinglan’s voice faded with the sound of the door closing. She frowned and walked to the window.

Who exactly had been saying unpleasant things around Song Man? Although Song Man often bickered with her, they had never argued like this before, especially about their feelings.

Because of the height of the building, Song Qinglan could only see a small black dot leave the office building two minutes later and get into a car.

She sat back in her chair, preoccupied with thoughts during lunch.

Song Man returned to the car, took out her phone, and had someone book a restaurant for 7 PM. She sent the location to Song Qinglan and Jiang Shan.

Chu Fengqiu sensed that Song Man wasn’t very happy and didn’t disturb her, just quietly held Song Man’s hand.

This was like a switch, instantly activating the tired nerve in Song Man’s body. Song Man rested her head on Chu Fengqiu’s shoulder, staring blankly at the blanket in the car.

Why are there so many annoying things?!

Why does it have to be so complicated and messy?!

Can’t people just have a little more trust?! Like how the Magic Fairy Queen trusts the Little Magic Fairies!

Why?!

A million “annoyed” characters flashed through Song Man’s mind, spamming her internal thoughts like bullet comments.

The car quickly arrived at school. As soon as she got out, the howling cold wind extinguished the fire in Song Man’s heart. She held Chu Fengqiu’s hand and walked up the steps one by one towards the teaching building.

After class started, Song Man sat in her seat, her mind wandering as she listened to the teacher lecture, a stark contrast to Chu Fengqiu beside her.

Chu Fengqiu was taking notes. Song Man was puzzled; they already knew this stuff, what was there to write down? Although it was true that a bad memory was worse than a good pen, this kind of thing really wasn’t necessary for her and Chu Fengqiu, was it?

But Chu Fengqiu was taking notes very seriously, even marking key points with a red pen and summarizing everything herself. The entire notebook looked incredibly pleasing to the eye.

It wasn’t until later, when she saw the younger students holding beautifully printed notes with familiar handwriting, that Song Man sighed, realizing that Chu Fengqiu really had a knack for business.

But for now, Song Man didn’t know this. She just watched Chu Fengqiu take notes for a while out of boredom, then took Chu Fengqiu’s difficult problem book to work on problems.

The teacher lectured on math above, and she did physics problems below. The teacher lectured on physics above, and she did chemistry problems below. The teacher lectured on chemistry above, and Song Man did math problems.

In short, she was perfectly out of sync with the teacher for the entire afternoon.

It was still early for 7 PM after school. Song Man and Chu Fengqiu went to the hospital to see Deng Wei, who was still lying in bed.

Deng Wei’s miserable state hadn’t changed from yesterday; he was still lying in bed unable to move, looking pitiful.

However, Deng Wei himself didn’t seem to think so, because he was happily enjoying special treatment.

Since his hand was also injured, Shen Conglin was feeding him fruit.

Deng Wei looked like he was on cloud nine, a sight that was truly unbearable to watch.

“Man Jie, Goddess, you’re here.”

Deng Wei swallowed the fruit in his mouth and greeted Song Man.

“Hello Man Jie, Goddess… huh?”

Shen Conglin quickly stood up and followed suit, then paused when she said “Goddess” and turned to look at Deng Wei.

“This is Man Jie’s good friend, Chu Jie. Conglin, I just said that out of habit, out of habit. Only you are my goddess.”

“That line sounds really damn familiar. Shen Conglin, a man’s mouth is a deceiving ghost.”

Song Man’s face was full of “hehe.” Deng Wei’s words were truly sickening to her.

“Sister, sister, give me some face.”

Deng Wei frantically winked, looking very much like someone having an epileptic seizure.

“Feeling better today?”

Song Man walked to Deng Wei’s bedside and poked his arm.

“Still hurts.”

“Still acting tough?”

“Not acting tough anymore, not acting tough anymore.”

“That’s more like it.”

Song Man sat down in a chair and looked up at Chu Fengqiu.

“How about I have the driver take you home first? I have dinner plans tonight, so I won’t go to evening self-study.”

“Where are you going?”

“Something with my sister.”

Song Man didn’t want to tell Chu Fengqiu about it. Before, she didn’t care how things were; she was just like this. If Chu Fengqiu accepted her as a friend, fine; if not, so be it. She wasn’t going to change anyway. But now, it felt different. She wanted to rein herself in a bit, afraid of scaring Chu Fengqiu away.

“Okay, I’ll go back first then.”

“Then Man Jie, you watch Deng Wei for a bit. Auntie is busy with work, I’ll go to Auntie’s house and get the food. The hospital food isn’t good.”

Shen Conglin also stood up and said to Song Man.

“Thanks for your trouble.”

Deng Wei’s home was a bit far from here. It was hard work for Shen Conglin, a girl, to run back and forth like this.

“No trouble at all, no trouble at all. It’s what I should do. Auntie’s cooking is also very delicious, and I can even get a free meal. I’ll be going now.”

“Be careful on the road.”

Deng Wei instructed.

“Got it.”

The door closed, and silence returned to the room.

Song Man turned her head and saw Deng Wei’s silly grin, holding her forehead.

“How can Shen Conglin have such heavy taste?”